


Family Resemblance

by vanillafluffy



Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Bakery, Family History, Gen, Headcanon, I am backstory's bitch, POV Steve Rogers, Steve Rogers Feels
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-06
Updated: 2016-09-06
Packaged: 2018-08-13 11:33:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 804
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7975357
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/vanillafluffy/pseuds/vanillafluffy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Steve sees a familiar face.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Family Resemblance

**Author's Note:**

> The theme was clichés. The prompt was "People are often exact duplicates of remote ancestors, or of their parent at the same age.".

There's a bakery on Broadway in the West 70s that everyone in the Tower has been raving about. Pepper loves their éclairs. Tony says their scones are just like the original Edwin Jarvis used to bake. Clint swears the peanut butter and jelly donuts are out of this world. Even Maria Hill, who's no foodie, expresses a weakness for something called a Cocoa-Coconut Supreme. What the heck, super soldiers have to eat, too, right? Steve decides to check it out after his morning run. 

It's called Tastyflake, and it looks like it could've been around when Steve was a kid. The storefront is classic Art Deco, and makes him think of the little Italian bakery where Bucky worked during high school. 

The interior of Tastyflake has a mosaic of hexagonal tiles on the floor. Glass-fronted pastry cases trimmed with gleaming chrome are filled with mouth-watering confections. Behind the counter, a man is counting as he puts cookies into a box. 

Steve waits patiently, inhaling the scent of vanilla and cinnamon. 

"Didn't want to lose count," says the worker, turning around with a box in his hand. "What can I get for you?"

Steve's heart bounces. "Bucky?!"

"Sorry, no." The guy slides a door on the back of the display case and adds a box of butter cookies to the array. "They say everyone has a double somewhere."

Steve knows he's staring, but he can't help it. The counterman has "Frank" embroidered on his white jacket, but Steve's heart insists that he's looking at James Buchanan Barnes. 

"Is there something I can get you?" Frank asks again. 

His voice isn't quite as deep as Bucky's. Looking closely at him, he's a few years younger than the Bucky Steve saw in DC. Unless he's started aging in reverse, like in that movie Pepper showed them, he really isn't who he appears to be. 

"I'm sorry, you look just like a guy I went to school with," Steve apologizes awkwardly. 

"No problem. So, what do you need?" He waves a hand at the goodies on display. His left hand, Steve notices, and it isn't cybernetic. 

"Everything looks good," Steve says, scanning the cases. Then something occurs to him. Frank's accent is pure New York. "Your last name wouldn't happen to be Barnes, would it?"

"My grandmother's maiden name was Barnes," Frank acknowledges after a moment. 

"Elizabeth, Olivia or Rebecca?"

It's the other man's turn to stare. "Grandma Becca...she died when I was, like, four, I don't really remember her. I know she had a bunch of health problems."

"From the polio she has when she was a kid, right?"

"How the hell do you know so much about my family?" 

"Her brother, Bucky, was my best friend." The other man's eyes widen. 

"Holy shit, you're Steve Rogers!" Now Frank smiles broadly, looking so much like Bucky that there's a lump in Steve's throat. "Aunt Betsy said she knew you back in the day. It was all she could talk about after they found you, on and on and on.... She's ninety-something," he adds. "She's feisty."

"I guess some things never change." Steve grins. 

"It's an honor, Captain Rogers."

Steve shakes the offered hand. "My pleasure, Frank. Please give my regards to Betsy, and let me get a half-dozen of those apple turnovers."

Frank wants to comp him. Steve insists on paying. They compromise; Steve pays, and Frank throws in a slightly squashed coffee cake. 

Heading back toward the Tower, munching turnovers, Steve sighs. Wouldn't it have been great to find Bucky just like that? He's been hunting for months, and the only thing that's turned up was some security footage from the Smithsonian a couple days after the helicarriers went down. He shakes his head, bemused by the morning's surprises. 

Becca's grandson...she'd still been on crutches the last time he saw her, but she'd married and had at least one kid. Frank is what, Bucky's great-nephew? And Betsy is a feisty old lady? She used to be downright bossy, Steve recalls, chuckling. 

Olivia--Livy--was the oldest girl, a little spoiled, a daydreamer. Becca, the baby of the family and an invalid, had brought out everyone's protective side--especially Bucky's. Betsy, though, would have made as good a Sergeant as her big brother. He remembers listening to her badger Livy into doing her share of the chores, or wheedling Bucky into taking them all to the pictures. Good times....

It would be nice to talk about the old days with Betsy. He's not sure if he'll tell her about Bucky....it might be too much of a shock. He should revisit Tastyflake, Steve decides. There aren't many people left from his past; he should fill in some of the pieces from the lost years. 

That, and he definitely wants some more of those apple turnovers. 

...


End file.
